A Few Rockies Predictions For 2013

Well folks, it seems I've been busier than even I anticipated I'd be since the beginning of the year so I didn't even have a chance to weigh in on spring training. I don't think there was much to talk about anyway aside from maybe Tyler Colvin getting shipped to minors after a rough, rough March. I probably wouldn't have reacted that way, but after seeing how lost he became in 2011, I guess I see the Rockies reasoning. I just hope he gets it together quick. 

Yorvit Torrealba beat out Ramon Hernandez. No surprise there.

They inked Jon Garland. Big fan of that move.

Aaron Cook is back on a minor league deal. That's fine.

The rest of the starting pitching has been all over the map. Duh.

Todd Helton looked like his old self over the past week. That's always nice to see.

But that's all behind us now. It's time to look forward, which is what I intend to do here with a few predictions. Just remember... these predictions won't matter a week from now and will likely be forgotten six months from now. Unless they're correct, of course.

Wins: 73

Some people think they can get to .500 this season. ESPN's Keith Law says 53 wins. I'm going in between with a learn towards optimism. They're going to struggle to pitch again, and they probably won't succeed within the division, but a healthier season should eliminate some of the misery.

All-Stars: If Dexter Fowler isn’t an all-star, we’ll all be complaining that he should have been. I think he finally breaks out. Meanwhile, Troy Tulowitzki is a given and Carlos Gonzalez should be, too.

Team leader in wins: Jon Garland... even if he’s traded in July or August. I'm thinking 11-12.

Team leader in saves: Rafael Betancourt... again, even if he's traded in July or August.

Aaron Cook starts: Too many. Guessing 8-10. The Rockies will go through starters quickly I'm afraid.

Todd Helton's numbers: .280, 10 home runs, 55 RBI in 92 games. Wouldn't be a bad way to go out.

Wilin Rosario home runs: 27

Wilin Rosario: passed balls: 11

Date Nolan Arenado arrives: No sooner than June 15 and no later than July 15. He’ll be a breath of fresh air.

Walt Weiss status: He'll earn a second year. I assume he'll get it, too, but I'm more certain he'll earn it than receive it.  

Public Enemy No 1 (AKA the Frankin Morales/Felipe Paulino/Esmil Rogers/Jeremy Guthrie on the team): Hands down this will be Chris Volstad. Rockies fans tend to sour on new guys quickly and I'm afraid Volstad will make himself an easy target.

Rock Solid Recrap: Giants 6, Rockies 3. 15 To Go.

Giants 6, Rockies 3 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: If you've seen one Rockies-Giants game from AT&T Park, you've seen them all. Misplayed flyballs into triples, wild pitches, caught stealings, former Rockies that stunk getting big hits and once great baseball players grounding into double plays for the Rockies. It's all there for you, but it's just a small portion of the usual problems.

Turning Point: 7th inning. Giants leading 3-0. Rockies loaded the bases with one out. In comes Jeremy Affeldt from the Giants bullpen. In comes Jason Giambi from the Rockies bench. One pitch. 4-6-3 double play. Rally dead. Baseball game essentially over.

So the question I ask you now is the one I sarcastically (I think) asked on Twitter: How long before the Rockies ink Giambi to that next one-year contract?

Jeff Francis' Line: 5 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 K, 78 pitches (53 strikes)

Speaking of one-year contracts, I'd give one to Jeff Francis in a heartbeat. Francis has shown he has plenty left in the tank to be an above average bottom of the rotation guy, and as we've seen repeatedly over the years, you can never have enough starting pitching depth in New York, Detroit, Atlanta, anywhere, and that's especially true in Colorado.

Bullpen's Line: 3 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 K

Really could have used one of those lights out nights from the bullpen, but instead we got a shaky Carlos Torres (1 ER), a sputtering Josh Roenicke (1 ER) and the usual Josh Outman (2 ER).

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Rock Solid Recrap: Giants 2, Rockies 1. Just Like Always.

Giants 2, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: One day after allowing 12 runs to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park and only losing by one run, the Rockies hold the mighty San Francisco Giants to two runs... and again lose by one run.

Bet nobody saw that coming.

And by nobody I mean everybody.

Turning Points: What makes a loss like this one all the more frustrating though is Madison Bumgarner walking five batters in six innings and the Rockies not making him pay for it.

• Dexter Fowlers starts the game with a walk... and then he's caught stealing. 

• Chris Nelson leads off the 2nd with a walk. Andrew Brown follows with a single. But that rally dies on a D.J. LeMahieu double play. 

• Fowler and Josh Rutledge walk with one out in the 4th. Jordan Pacheco and Wilin Rosario fail to drive them in.

• Andrew Brown walks in the 6th... caught stealing (picked off). 

Turning any single one of those walks into a run would have changed the entire outlook. Instead, Bumgarner gets off the hook repeatedly and the Rockies get absolutely nothing going against San Francisco's tough bullpen. Same result we've seen seemingly 1,000 times over the past few seasons against those guys.

Jhoulys Chacin's Line: 5 IP, 1 ER. 5 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 80 pitches (50 strikes)

Solid outing that very likely would have stretched out to an excellent outing with a couple more innings of work. But I'm just happy to see Jhoulys throwing this well and looking healthy because that's all that truly matters right now.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Rough First Inning Too Much To Overcome

Giants 8, Rockies 3 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: We can pretty much narrow this down to San Francisco's five-run 1st inning against Jeff Francis. Though the 11 strikeouts from the offense and Dexter Fowler and Josh Rutledge combining to go 1-for-9 out of the top two spots in the order could also qualify as parts of the problem, especially considering Carlos Gonzalez and Wilin Rosario each reached three times behind them, including Rosario's 24th homer.

Turning Point: Gregor Blanco started the game with a triple. Marco Scutaro singled him home. The Giants rolled for four more runs, including three with two outs, and never looked back.

Jeff Francis' Line: 3 IP, 5 ER, 7 H, 0 BB, 5 K, 78 pitches (51 strikes)

The rough 1st inning put the Rockies behind the eight-ball and guaranteed a short evening for Francis. Pitching for a normal team, he may have been able to squeeze out two or three more innings based on how strongly he recovered in the 2nd and 3rd. The Rockies, however, are not normal, so it just goes down as an awful outing and another taxing night on the bullpen.

Bullpen's Line: 6 IP, 3 ER, 8 H, 0 BB, 7 K

Adam Ottavino was solid, striking over four and allowing one run over three innings. It was Josh Roenicke who struggled the most, allowing two earned runs in the 9th. His ERA finally creeped over 3.00 after staying in the 2's basically all season.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Labor Day Circus

Braves 6, Rockies 1 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: Geez, I know it was a quick turn around and all but did the Rockies not get any sleep on the plane or at the hotel overnight? Just take a look at some of the crap they served up this afternoon

Michael Bourn scores on a wild pitch

Freddie Freeman scores on two errors

That was just the 1st inning. How about the 3rd?

Dexter Fowler's misread lead to two more

Been awhile (couple weeks anyway) since I've had full blown circus music playing in my head while watching the Rockies. As catchy as that can be, I'd much rather have a Justin Bieber song in my head.

Turning Point: The Rockies - a professional baseball team - didn't show up ready to play. No turning point, just several embarrassing ones.

Tyler Chatwood's Line: 3 IP, 6 R (5 ER), 2 H, 5 BB, 2 K, 74 pitches (41 strikes)

Walks, wild pitches, errors and other defensive miscues defined Chatwood's outing today. I mean just look at the run column and then look at the hit column. I haven't seen anything like that since high school. Or maybe it was Little League. Regardless of the embarrassing defense behind him, Chatwood beat himself today, plain and simple, and needs to start throw strikes consistently, not three out of every five starts.

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Rock Solid Recap: Rockies Win Ugly Sunday Rubber Match

Rockies 11, Padres 10 (boxscore)

As well played as the first two games were, this one was every bit as ugly. And I'm not just talking about from a pitching standpoint. It was sloppy baseball in general, and that made it quite a chore to sit through despite the offensive fireworks and positive result.

Winning Player: Chris Nelson

Nelly only had one of the Rockies 11 hits, but it was the biggest in the game. It came in the 7th with Colorado trailing 9-7. Tyler Colvin had just sacrificed the tying runs into scoring position (because Jim Tracy is a genius or something), and Nelson said screw that, skip, I'm here to win. So he launched a three-run homer to straight away center to recapture the lead.

Watch Chris Nelson's three-run jack

Honorable Mentions: Dexter Fowler (three hits, two RBIs) and Jordan Pacheco (two hits, two RBIs and two runs)

Turning Point: The Rockies had two big innings offensively, and need every bit of both to pull out this win. Of course one of those was the 7th thanks to Nelson's home run. The other was a seven-run 3rd in which they scored six more two-out runs. I swear they've doubled their season total of two-out runs in the last two days alone. And it's no surprise at all that they have won both of those games.

Jeff Francis' Line: 3 2/3 IP, 6 R (5 ER), 10 H, 0 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 80 pitches (55 strikes)

This looked a lot like his return start back on June 9. The Angels peppered him for 10 hits (all singles) in 3 1/3. Today, San Diego threw a home run and a double in there, but it was mostly Francis getting peppered by singles, and he also didn't get much help from his defense. Indecisiveness, sloppy technique, and missed cutoff men were abound, and each 90 feet allowed proved to be costly in one way or another.

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Rock Solid Recap: Jhoulys Dominated And Then Dexter Slammed The Door

Rockies 9, Padres 1 (boxscore)

Winning Player: Jhoulys Chacin 7 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 75 pitches (53 strikes)

To say Chacin pounded the strike zone tonight would be an understatement. What a fantastic outing that only  saw him make one mistake, which of course Will Venable hit over the scoreboard in right for homer. That aside, Chacin was effective, extremely efficient, and more importantly than that, looked confident (and looks healthy). It looks like we might have something to truly look forward to every fifth day in September. 

PS: Chacin is the first Rockies starter to go 7 innings since Christian Friedrich back on June 4 (half a season ago). 

Honorable Mentions: Josh Rutledge (three hits, one run) and Tyler Colvin (home run, double, three RBI). 

Both of these guys keep on hitting and producing. Thinking about them in a lineup with Troy Tulowitzki, Carlos Gonzalez, Dexter Fowler and Wilin Rosario for years to come makes me as giddy as one can be while still fully understanding this team isn't set up to win anytime soon.  

Turning Point: The Rockies jumped out to a 5-0 lead thanks to some good two-out hitting. That started right away in the 1st inning when Carlos Gonzalez doubled and then Wilin Rosario knocked him in with a single. They would then add three more two-out runs in the 5th thanks to Tyler Colvin's two-run double and Chris Nelson's RBI single. And who knows, that inning could have been even more productive had Jim Tracy not gone to the Little League playbook with the old 1st-and-3rd steal a run double steal with Nelson on first and Jordan Pacheco on third.

That failed miserably, and probably will most times unless you have an EY2 or Dexter Fowler running at third or you're facing a team below rookie ball level.

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Rock Solid Recap: Jhoulys Chacin Brilliant In Return From DL

Rockies 6, Mets 2 (boxscore)

Winning Player Jhoulys Chacin: 6 IP, 1 ER, 4 H, 0 BB, 2 K, 73 pitches (51 strikes)

As good a return outing as you can have asked for or expected. Troy Renck pretty much summed it on Twitter. Chacin threw with confidence and swagger, which is something we haven't seen from him since early in 2011. He was in the strike zone consistently. He was efficient. It's the type of outing where he may have pushed to go the distance under different circumstances, but we'll certainly take these results and hope there are more to go this weekend in Chicago. 

Welcome back, Jhoulys.

Congrats on your first win since last Aug. 28.

Bullpen's Line: 3 IP, 1 ER, 2 H, 0 BB, 1 K

The Mets scratched out one against Matt Reynolds in his 1/3 of an inning outing, but could get nothing going against Josh Roenicke, Matt Belisle and Rafael Betancourt.

Seriously... how nice is it to finally see the Rockies having opportunities to use Reynolds, Belisle, Roenicke and Betancourt in setup/closer situations?  It's almost like we have a little structure back in our lives.

Also, NO WALKS. From anybody!

Turning Point: The game obviously turned in the Rockies four-run sixth. Up until that point, Colorado was without a single base runner. D.J. LeMahieu and Jonathan Herrera changed that with back-to-back singles leading off the inning. Then came the big play... After Chacin put down his sacrifice bunt, starting pitcher Chris Young fielded it and promptly tossed it halfway down the right field line, which allowed LeMahieu to score and tie the game.

Watch The Mets Botch It All Up

Charlie Blackmon and Dexter Fowler would follow this with RBI singles. Ramon Hernandez then capped the rally with a sacrifice fly. So again, like Monday night, it came down to a few batters in one half inning where the Rockies executed everything correctly and benefitted greatly from the opponent's inability to do the same.

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Rock Solid Recap: D.J. LeMahieu's Career Night Paces Rockies Attack

Rockies 9, Brewers 6 (boxscore)

All I wanted for my birthday was some cake, ice cream, and a lot of Rockies runs (enough to win at least). Low and behold, I got all three!

Winning Player: D.J. LeMahieu

I singled out LeMahieu on Sunday for his excellent play on the entire road trip and he follows that up with a career-high four hits on Monday. Granted, all four were singles, but singles can be very effective when everybody in the lineup is contributing. Monday was one of those nights for the Rockies, as all eight position players had at least one hit (Eric Young Jr., Dexter Fowler, Tyler Colvin and Chris Nelson each had two) and all eight position players had at least one run scored or one RBI.

Those nights are the best.

Turning Point: It was nice to see the offense come out swinging against Mike Fiers, who had an incredible 1.02 ERA over his last 10 appearances (9 starts). He's a good — potentially great — young pitcher that I figured this Rockies lineup would struggle against. They didn't struggle at all, and I credit EY and Jonathan Herrera for getting that started in the 1st, as well as Fowler, Carlos Gonzalez and Wilin Rosario for not letting the inning go to waste (Rockies jumped up 3-0).

Jeff Francis's Line: 5 1/3 IP, 3 ER, 6 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 77 pitches (44 strikes)

How nice of Francis to allow a two-run homer to Carlos Gomez on his 77th pitch. That made life easy on old Jim Tracy, who immediately brought the hook.

Of course what else would you expect to happen when a starting pitcher has become conditioned to throwing 75-85 pitches, but all of that just plays right into the hands of Rockies management. They can continue selling the 75 pitch thing by pointing at a result like this. Unfortunately for them, though, we're not idiots.

Unfortunately for us, they just might be.

By the way, overall it was a very nice outing for Francis. Happy for him to get a win out of it.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Rockies Unable To Overcome Cain... Or Themselves

Giants 9, Rockies 3 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong: Well, for starters, Matt Cain is pretty good at pitching. Once the Rockies got behind 4-0, this one was pretty much in the books. However, Drew Pomeranz didn't have his best stuff today and the bullpen was unable to keep things relatively close, so chalk this one up as another one-sided thrashing.

Drew Pomeranz's Line: 4 IP, 4 ER, 6 H, 3 K, 1 HR, 73 pitches (45 strikes)

Buster Posey was out of the Giants lineup on Friday, but he's the guy who really got to Pomeranz on Saturday. His single leading off the 2nd set up that mini-rally which was capped by two-out RBI singles from Joaquin Arias and Matt Cain (the 8-9 hitters). Posey then hit a two-run homer in the 3rd to cap the scoring against Pomeranz. Just kind of a blah outing that could have gone either way had he been allowed to go beyond 73 pitches.

Afterwards, Pomeranz was rightfully displeased with his fastball command. As we know, that's pretty much where his success begins and ends.

Josh Roenicke's Line: 2 IP, 4 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 43 pitches (23 strikes)

This pushed Roenicke's ERA from 2.21 to 2.65. That says a lot about how well he's pitched in 71 1/3 innings.

By the way, Rex Brothers would allowed the ninth and final run in the 8th. His up and down, mostly disappointing season continues.

Highlight of the Afternoon: Another first career home run for a Rockie. This time it's D.J. LeMahieu. Congrats to him!

Watch D.J. LeMahieu's first home run

With Dexter Fowler telling the Michael Phelps story (AGAIN) over the entire highlight. I think I've heard the story 12 times over the past two weeks.

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Rock Solid Recap: Rockies Avoid Sweep With Something Resembling Normal Baseball

Rockies 4, Diamondbacks 2 (boxscore)

This was kind of an odd game to watch. The Rockies, who have resorted to desperate, non-sensical experiments in recent weeks just to try to scratch out a handful of wins, actually played a normal, paint-by-numbers game on Wednesday. And to top it all off... they won it!

No... seriously. They won it!

They won it with Dexter Fowler leading off the game with a triple and Marco Scutaro immediately bringing him home with a sacrifice fly. They won it with a clutch two-run double by Scutaro in the 3rd. They won it with solid (even spectacular) defense. And they won it behind a starting pitcher that was not only good, but allowed to pitch beyond the 75-pitch limit.

Normal, drama free baseball for nine straight innings. I could get used to that.

Winning Players: Dexter Fowler & Marco Scutaro

Francis was good (more on him shortly), but Fowler and Scutaro really set the tone in the 1st and 3rd innings with their productive at-bats mentioned above. Fowler would finish the night with three hits, two runs and a steal. Scutaro went 1-for-1 with the big two-run double, the sac fly, and two walks. That's what you need from the 1-2 spots.

Turning Point: I alluded to some good Rockies defense tonight. The turning point in this game came courtesy of that defense as Tyler Colvin ran down Chris Young's shot into the right field corner that looked like a game-tying two-run double (at least) off the bat.

Watch Colvin's marvelous grab

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Rock Solid Recap: Embracing The Drama

Rockies 5, Pirates 4 (boxscore)

When you enter play at 34-54, you'll take a win any way you can get it, even if that includes suffering through an hour long delay in the 9th inning, blowing a 4-1 lead in said 9th inning through the combined efforts of Rafael Betancourt (credited with a "hold"), Rex Brothers (vultures a "win") and Pedro Alvarez (certified Rockie killer) before ultimately scoring the game winner in a dramatic bottom of the 9th.

It was miserable.

It was painful (especially seeing Jeff Francis lose a much deserved victory).

It was also quite predictable.

It was Rockies baseball at its Rockiest... right up until Dexter Fowler's sacrifice fly clinched them victory #35 (Yes, I was expecting Wilin Rosario to slip on a wet spot 80 feet down the line).

I'll take it.

Winning Player: Jeff Francis: 5 IP, 1 ER, 6 H, 0 BB, 1 K, 73 pitches (42 strikes)

Solid contributions from a number of players tonight (Dexter Fowler, Wilin Rosario, Josh Roenick, and even Eric Young Jr. and Jason Giambi off the bench), but Francis is simply rolling right now and deserves the nod.

Every fourth day you know you're getting at least five innings from Francis, which under our current system is like a guaranteed eight innings every fifth day. He's pounding the strike zone. He's putting up zeroes. He's also bringing a small bit of stability to a rotation that needs a lot of it, but what any little bit is definitely appreciated.

Keep it rolling, Francis.

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Rock Solid Recap: Rockies Follow The Script, Steal Series From Washington

Rockies 4, Nationals 3 (boxscore)

Taken directly from Saturday's Recrap:

THEY (the Rockies) have to be the team that gets those difference-making runs. THEY cannot afford to be the team that doesn't get those difference-making runs, while also giving away difference-making runs. It would be nice if they could make that a point of emphasizing that down the stretch just so they're prepared and capable of being a team that can compete next season.

I think the Rockies got the memo. They found a way to get those difference-making runs on Sunday. It doesn't matter that they got a TON of help from Washington. It's that they actually were in a position to take advantage of Washington's mistakes, and then did it. That's what matters. And they did it against a very good bullpen anchored by Tyler Clippard.

I'm very happy with that.

Winning Player: Jeremy Guthrie: 6 IP, 2 ER, 6 H, 1 BB, 3 K, 1 HR, 83 pitches (54 strikes)

It's nice to know this Jeremy Guthrie still exists. Yeah, he still made that one big mistake, and Ian Desmond made him pay for it with a two-run homer. But he limited it to that one mistake, he worked deep into the game, and he afforded the Rockies an opportunity to steal a win and to steal a series. He survived, and that allowed the Rockies to overcome.

This Jeremy Guthrie will help a contender down the stretch. I just hope a contender realizes it before he throws another game at Coors Field, because that Jeremy Guthrie is a miserable mess.

Turning Point: Down 3-1 in the 8th, the Rockies found a way to scratch out a difference-making run. It came off the bat of Eric Young Jr., who homered for the first time since 2009 off Sean Burnett leading off the inning. Yes, that Sean Burnett, the one with the 1.42 ERA and strong stats across the board in the first half.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Four Errors Seems Like Too Many

Nationals 4, Rockies 1 (boxscore) 

Yes, a real Recrap this time. 

Saturday was a pretty hectic day around these parts with the weather and my duties over at Big League Stew getting most of my attention. Admittedly only got to see bits and pieces of another Rockies game this week, which kinda sticks, but doesn't really stink when you examine what happened. 

Anyway, we'll keep things relatively short since I don't feel like going back and rewatching the part I saw and the other I've read about.

What Went Wrong/Turning Point/The Usual 

The Rockies would end up with four errors on the afternoon (two each in the 6th and 7th innings). The first came on yet another errand throw by Wilin Rosario, who now has NINE E-2's on the season. His led directly to a run as you see here. Josh Roenicke then followed up with this throwing error on a pick-off attempt, allowing Ryan Zimmerman to walk home.

Just maddening blunders that expose a complete lack of team wide fundamentals. And it's tough enough to overcome one of those, when you start compounding them and stacking as they did here, it's impossible.

Also, it's embarrassing.

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Rock Solid Recap: Tyler Colvin Is Unconscious, Drew Pomeranz Is Just Plain Confident

Rockies 5, Nationals 1 (boxscore)

Winning Player #1: Tyler Colvin

Dude took Stephen Strasburg deep twice on Friday night. I wouldn't put his hot streak in the same category as Troy Tulowitzki's 2010 September, or just about any of Carlos Gonzalez's torrid stretches, but this is pretty damn special.

Watch Tyler Colvin's big night

It was also nice to see him get a little help tonight from Dexter Fowler, who also homered as the Rockies defeated Strasburg for the second time in as many weeks.

Hey, remember when everybody was arguing over Fowler and Colvin and who should play, who should sit,  and all that? It looks like everybody was right, so let's all pat ourselves on the back!

Winning Player #2: Drew Pomeranz - 6 1/3 IP, 0 R, 1 H, 2 BB, 6 K, 81 pitches (52 strikes)

Pure brilliance from Pomeranz against a premier offense that had scored 32 runs over their last four games... against San Francisco no less. And he did it almost exclusively with fastballs (74 of 81 pitches) because he locating it with precision and Wil Nieves allowed him to stick with what was working.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Kip Bleepin' Wells

Padres 2, Rockies 0 (boxscore)

What Went Wrong

Not a lot more needs to be said. 

Turning Point: The pitching was terrific. The offense was crap. That must mean the defense played a major role in the Rockies defeat on Sunday.

Of course they did. This time it was a total breakdown on the infield after a jam sandwich off the bat of Logan Forythe landed safely behind the mound, just out of the reach of Drew Pomeranz and Jordan Pacheco. Pacheco then scooped the ball and airmailed a throw over Jason Giambi's head for a two-base error. Chris Denorfia scored from second to give San Diego a 1-0 lead in the 3rd.

That was seriously all the Padres needed, but they added an insurance run in the 7th just to be safe.

Highlight of the Afternoon: There was ONE. It came via the arm of Dexter Fowler in that 3rd inning.

Watch Fowler complete the double play with an OF assist 

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Rock Solid Recap: Josh Outman Starts Are Fun!

Rockies 11, Nationals 10 (boxscore)

Winning Player: Edwin Jackson

Only kidding. It's Tyler Colvin, who led the Rockies offensive attack with four hits (just a double shy of the cycle) and five RBIs. But he certainly wasn't the lone Rockie to have a productive afternoon. Dexter Fowler, Marco Scutaro, Carlos Gonzalez and Chris Nelson all contributed three hits apiece as Colorado pounded out an even 20 on the afternoon.

But I definitely will give Edwin Jackson an honorable mention. The Rockies absolutely brutalized E-Jax into submission during their glorified batting practice exhibition that would make even Jeremy Guthrie and Alex White cringe. But I guess we shouldn't be too surprised considering Edwin entered the game with a 13.91 ERA against the Rockies in SIX career starts.

Ugly.

Turning Point: The Rockies blew a 7-0 second inning lead and a 10-9 ninth inning lead because winning convincingly and on time apparently bores them. But it's OK, because Marco Scutaro sent the crowd home happy with a two-out, walk-off single in the 11th inning after a seven-pitch at-bat.

Way to go, Marco!

Highlight of the Night: Watch Marco Scutaro's game winner

Josh Outman's Line: 3 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 1 BB, 4 K, 1 HR, 67 pitches (41 strikes)

Well, Outman should have no beef with the offense. They have staked him out to 11-1 and 7-0 leads over his last two starts, yet all he has to show for that is 7 2/3 innings of total crap, one unintentional shoulder bump with the manager and zero wins.

I vote we replace him with Drew Pomeranz soon, or maybe even one of the youth campers from Tuesday. Frankly, I'll take any replacement aside from Guthrie, White or Guillermo Moscoso.

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Rock Solid Recrap: Another Lesson In Losing Baseball

Phillies 7, Rockies 6 (boxscore)

Admittedly my attention was diverted as I spent most of the evening researching and writing about Troy Tulowitzki's groin, but I was 100% focused for the 9th inning.

Quite honestly, what more did one need to see to analyze the latest exhibition is losing baseball?

What Went Wrong: Right here I should be writing about Wilin Rosario, Chris Nelson and Dexter Fowler being the reasons the Rockies pulled off a thrilling road win tonight. Instead I'm writing about the same old crap as every night. The Rockies and Rafael Betancourt couldn't hold a 6-5 lead in the 9th. They were ONE out away from holding it. The first two batters in the inning were harmless outs, but that elusive 3rd (27th) out never came.

Ty Wigginton base hit... because of course Ty Wigginton would get a base hit.

Hunter Pence doubles into the corner. Wigginton was running on the pitch, so he scores easily to tie it.

Carlos Ruiz intentionally walked.

Shane Victorino follows with a groundball to Marco Scutaro at short. Marco hesitates as he contemplates running to second or throwing to first. The hesitation costs him, because Victorino is fast and he also hustles. That loads the bases.

Placido Polanco follows with another groundball to Scutaro. This one he flags down just behind second base. He again contemplates a flip to second, but D.J. LeMahieu was also en route to the baseball and had to duck out of the way. This causes Scutaro's throw to sail a little bit, but he's still on target to Todd Helton, who inexplicably is off the base and couldn't locate it in time to beat Polanco.

Rockies lose. Again.

Yes, all of that really happened. Even the part where Todd Helton was out of position (he says he expected the ball to get through the infield). It's scary, folks. Todd Helton is the one guy on the team you'd expect to never assume anything, to always pay attention to detail, yet he lapsed tonight and it happened at the worst possible time.

Needless to say, this season is wearing on everybody. Even the great Todd Helton. But unlike the man guiding the ship, Helton offered no excuses for his miscue. He should have been there. He knows he should have been there. He's probably not going to sleep well tonight because of it, but at least he owned up to it.

Hopefully a few other guys lose sleep tonight, too, because the game should have never made it to that point.

Alex White's Line: 3 2/3 IP, 5 ER, 5 H, 2 BB, 0 K, 1 HR, 75 pitches (Damn, Jim Tracy is good at this pitch limit thing), 43 strikes

The home run allowed was the first of the season for Michael Martinez. The zero strikeouts are a season low. Umm... oh, and Rockies starters have combined for eight innings pitched in two starts under the new four-man rotation.

Bullpen's Line: 5 IP, 2 ER, 4 H, 2 BB, 3 K

The positive here was the three hit-free, walk-free innings from Jeremy Guthrie. I have no idea what that means, but it's a positive.

What's Next: Can the Rockies avoid a sweep on Thursday night???

Their "starter" will be Jeff Francis (0-1, 12.46). His mound opponent will be Vance Worley (3-3, 2.80). First pitch is scheduled for 5:10. Francis' last pitch is likely to come before 6:10.

Final Thoughts: The Rockies learned they lost Troy Tulowitzki for eight more weeks with an injury we've never heard of before. Then they went out and lost a baseball game in a way we've never seen before.

Somehow, someway, tomorrow will be worse.

I can almost guarantee it.

More Rockies thoughts await you if you follow me on Twitter: @Townie813 & @HeavenHelton

Lineup Card: Rockies @ Phillies 6-20-12

Tuesday's Recrap: This Really Is The Road To 100

Lineups

Colorado Rockies (25-41)

1. Tyler Colvin (CF)
2. Marco Scutaro (SS)
3. Carlos Gonzalez (LF)
4. Michael Cuddyer (RF)
5. Todd Helton (1B)
6. Jordan Pacheco (3B)
7. Chris Nelson (2B)
8. Wilin Rosario (C)
9. Alex White (P)

Is Jim Tracy intentionally sabotaging Dexter Fowler, or is Jim Tracy an imbecile? 

Oh wait, we already answered that in Tuesday's Recrap. It's unintentional, but it's completely unacceptable.

Also, the latest on Troy Tulowitzki is that he'll be "out awhile" after surgery Thursday to clean out scar tissue in the left groin area that is pressing on a nerve. Of course this is devastating news for the Rockies lineup, but apparently great news for the Rockies fans on Twitter who passionately root against him. 

Philadelphia Phillies (32-37)

1. Jimmy Rollins (SS)
2. Juan Pierre (LF)
3. Hunter Pence (RF)
4. Carlos Ruiz (C)
5. Shane Victorino (CF)
6. Placido Polanco (3B)
7. John Mayberry (1B)
8. Michael Martinez (2B)
9. Joe Blanton (P)

More Rockies thoughts await you if you follow me on Twitter: @Townie813 & @HeavenHelton

Rock Solid Recap: Rockies Hurl First Shutout Behind Christian Friedrich

Rockies 4, Diamondbacks 0 (boxscore)

Winning Player: Christian Friedrich

What little stability the Rockies rotation has enjoyed over the past month has been mostly provided by Friedrich. The young lefty was beyond solid again here, despite not exactly possessing what you'd call good command early on. That led to a challenging first two innings that saw Arizona leave the bases loaded in the 1st and a runner at second in the 2nd. Friedrich then settled down enough to retire eight of the next nine and ultimately worked deep into the game.

Christian Friedrich's Line: 7 IP, 0 R, 4 H, 2 BB, 4 K, 113 pitches (69 strikes)

The pitch count is a new major league high for Friedrich. In fact, he only reached 100 (exactly) one time before (on May 19 vs Seattle), so it's by a pretty fair margin. I figure that's noteworthy on some level, but overall I'm just thrilled with Friedrich's performance to date and certainly looking forward to his next outing against the Angels.

Turning Point: I mentioned Arizona leaving the bases loaded in the 1st. A big reason for that was Dexter Fowler's outstanding diving catch (Watch) on Aaron Hill's line drive that happened at the beginning of the inning. If that ball gets down, the D-Backs have two on and no outs. If it gets past Fowler, the D-Backs have a run on the board and another 90 feet away. It was an early game changer, and another positive step in Fowler's development into a difference maker.

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